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Reflection on English Teaching in Elementary Schools


Reflections on English Teaching in Elementary Schools <BR> First, in China, English is a foreign language, not a second language, and cannot be learned.
In China, many people overlook that English is a foreign language, not a second language. It is an important objective reason for the inefficiency of English learning.
So, what is the difference between a second language and a foreign language? Are they terms of different styles of the same concept, or are they two different concepts? How does it affect the effectiveness of English teaching ?
In fact, we know that second 1anguage is opposite to first language, while foreign 1anguage and non-native language are opposite to mother tongue and native 1anguage.
The common feature of first language and mother tongue and native 1anguage is that the earliest acquired language is often learned in a family environment; the proficiency is high. The language is intuitive.
The common feature of second language, foreign language and non-native language is: it is a bilingual phenomenon; the time sequence in mastery is last in the first language; the proficiency is generally not as good as the first language; the acquisition method is generally school education, parent education Or self-study.
First of all, in terms of language environment, the second language is fundamentally different from the foreign language. Second language learners generally have a more natural language environment. There are many native speakers of the language around. For various reasons, there may be various connections between them. At the same time, because the language may be a kind of “official language, the news media, official archives, advertisements, etc. provide learners with a more authentic and natural language environment, while “foreign language” learners generally have difficulty in doing this. The locale.
Secondly, from the perspective of language input, the second language learner has a natural language environment on the one hand. On the other hand, if he learns the language through classroom teaching , the language level of the teacher and the language level of the classmates are all provided to him. Ideal "intelligibility input", including "talk to foreigners", "teacher language", "companion language", etc.;
Foreign language learners are different. He generally cannot get input such as foreigner talk. Because the foreign language teacher's language level cannot be compared with the second language teacher as a whole, the quality and quantity of teacher ta1k are not as good as the second language teaching class. Talk is also largely restricted.
Whether English is a second language teaching or a foreign language teaching in a country or region, there is also an important sign that the local school curriculum is taught in English. In addition to English classes, other courses are taught in the mother tongue or mostly in the mother tongue. English teaching is English language teaching . Obviously in China, English is a foreign language, not a second language. China lacks an environment in which English is taught as a second language. The mother tongue can be learned, and the second language can be learned, but the foreign language cannot be learned.
In our small English class, too much emphasis was placed on the creation of the scene, even for the scene, so that a false scene was created. Many teachers hold the expectation that children will learn English in nature in such a situation. Originally, there is no wood, and the passive water is obviously unrealistic. In the 35-minute English class, how much time does the teacher teach in a foreign language, and how much time does the student have to speak a foreign language? How many students have a foreign language environment, how many parents know foreign languages, and how many opportunities do students have active or passive contact with foreign languages ​​in their spare time? We can see some very successful English teaching courses for small and medium- sized students. In these observation classes, the English teachers and students work together seamlessly. The listening, speaking, reading and writing exercises are complete, plus readings, short plays, multimedia presentations, and teaching . Excited, the class is excited. However, in the foreign language teaching 365 days a year, how many such classes are there? This account, the first-line teachers engaged in English teaching should be very clear.
Second, the teaching of small and medium- sized English should adopt more cognitive methods than direct methods.
Direct law means a lot of contact with real language, real communication, relying on a lot of repeated imitation, strengthening memory, and forming habits. Audiovisual law, listening and speaking, and communicative law are all direct laws. To teach directly with direct law, there must be a language environment, a high-level faculty, a small class, and a lot of opportunities to learn and use English. Cognitive law does not rule out imitation, but due to the lack of language environment, the learning path is mainly through rational thinking, learning pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary knowledge, mastering language rules, guiding listening, speaking, reading and writing, and infering the three, forming a sustainable language ability. English is a foreign language in China. Chinese students learn English. No matter the small, medium or university, they can't use the second language teaching type. Instead, they should use the knowledge of the language as a crutches. At the same time, they should pay attention to rational cognition while using the experience learning. In particular, students must develop their sustainable language learning skills and cannot exclude language knowledge.
In our realistic teaching of small and medium- sized English, limited teacher resources, relatively low teacher standards, lack of language environment, and large-scale class teaching, all tell us that the direct method of teaching is not suitable for the current teaching practice of small and medium- sized English. .
Third, relying on continuous language knowledge, rather than "playing" to cultivate students' long-lasting interest. English teaching is important to cultivate interest, but not only by singing games, because the main interest is to learn English. Guo Xiaosheng Learning English is not an English-American immigrant to learn English. Only by continuously learning language knowledge, improving language ability and satisfying their sense of accomplishment can they cultivate lasting interest. At present, Guo Xiaosheng only has more than 100 minutes of English lessons per week. Singing games alone cannot cultivate students' lasting interest. When the fresh energy is over, the children will get bored. Therefore, singing games should be used as a means for students to learn English language knowledge and skills, rather than a means of cultivating interest. We can use a variety of means to help the national students remember more words during the period of strong memory, learn more language rules, and create as many opportunities as possible to improve the students' voice and intonation. In English learning, the five abilities of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating can be complementary. Really heard that the first move, read and write to keep up. It is hard to hear that it is difficult to receive high efficiency. It is also difficult to reduce the burden of learning by simply imitating and not cultivating learning ability. Therefore, Guo Xiaosheng should still study language carefully.
Fourth, the English teaching of small and medium- sized schools should not exclude basic language rules. The dominant teaching methods in traditional English teaching are grammar translation and listening and speaking. The explanation and practice of grammar rules has become the main content of traditional English teaching . With the rise of communicative teaching methods , the status of grammar teaching in foreign language teaching has been weakened. In the 1980s, some linguists publicly rejected the status of grammar teaching in foreign language teaching and opposed the practice of controlling grammar teaching programs in any teaching stage. They believe that as long as meaningful communication is provided in the classroom, the grammar will be automatically learned by the learner.

Affected by this view, for a period of time in the 1980s, grammar teaching once disappeared in some foreign language classes. However, the extremes must be reversed. After a period of practice and reflection, people finally realized the disadvantages of weakening or even abolishing the grammar class, because they rethought the position and role of grammar in language communication and in the foreign language classroom.

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